1. Field of Art
The present disclosure generally relates to the field of communications and more specifically to enabling a mobile phone to transmit and receive on non-cellular radio frequency channels.
2. Background of the Invention
Non-cellular radio frequencies such as very-high frequency (VHF) and ultra-high frequency (UHF) are used for police as well as citizen, aviation, maritime, military, and first responder communication. While mobile phones, police and maritime, etc. radios all operate on the same basic principles of radio frequency (“RF”) communication, each are tuned to communicate within their reserved frequency band or range of frequencies, which are intentionally kept separate to avoid collisions and interference. Mobile phones for example operate on distinctive frequencies such as 1900 MHz GSM and 800 MHz CDMA, separate from those of the maritime distress channel (156.8 MHz) and the digital police band (700 MHz). This design has advantages. For example, during a wide-scale emergency event where cellular communication experience high-congestion, police radios operating on separate frequencies are not impacted. However, a prime disadvantage is that radio bands are not interoperable with each other. For example, a police officer cannot utilize a police radio in their patrol car to communicate with a mobile phone, or vise versa. In another example, a recreational boater could not use their mobile phone to broadcast over a maritime distress channel in an emergency situation.
While these difficulties are discussed with respect to a police department and maritime distress signaling, private entities (e.g., a business utilizing two-way radios) and other entities (e.g., Fire departments and emergency medical services) may face similar difficulties.